Gabelli & Co. Maintains Buy on Lowe's

Gabelli & Co. reiterates its Buy rating on Lowe's LOW as the leading home improvement retailer is seen as well-positioned to benefit from a housing recovery. Gabelli & Co. says, "Housing starts have increased from 551,000 to 685,000 over the past year and we expect the upward trend to continue in 2012. Given the nature of Lowe's products (11% appliances, 7% lumber, 6% paint,6% millwork, 6% building materials, etc.), we are of the opinion that home improvement retailers should not be overly pressured by Internet retail, and could actually use their Internet presence to drive store traffic." LOW closed at $25.27 per share on Friday.